Review: It has been some time since a book made me stay up till the early hours of the night. And on top of that I’m already sleep deprived, being a new mom and all, so using my sleep time for reading this book is the biggest compliment I could give it. The second book of the series by Anthony Ryan, Tower Lord, was everything you could hope for in a fantasy series. It had massive worldbuilding, epic battles, magic, betrayals, bad guys you love to hate (or hate to love) and a hint of romance. Oh, and some badass female characters. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love any well-developed character regardless of the gender but I rarely see a female one done right (or rather, done the way I like it).

Review: Blood Song is Anthony Ryan’s first book of the fantasy series Raven’s Shadow (and in general). It follows the story of Vaelin Al Sorna, a boy with a destiny bigger than anyone can imagine. I was rather sceptical about that part, it has been done too many times (I’m guilty of that too, I’m afraid) but I read on nonetheless. Vaelin is the son of the Battle Lord of King Janus, the monarch ruling the kingdom he lives in.

Review: The third installment, The Dragon Reborn, from the series The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, is possibly my favorite one so far. By now I am invested in the heroes and heroines, I have my favorites and the plot has entangled enough to keep me on my toes all the time. I don’t say the others were not as good or interesting but with the development of the story our involvement and interest is supposed to grow, is it not? Of course it is.

Review: The Great Hunt is book two of the epic saga Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan in case you’ve failed to read the title of this post 😀 So you can expect more of the same – awesome adventures, magic and a whole lot of magical creatures, secrets, lies and darkfriends everywhere. Oh, and an invasion!

If you’re reading this then you’ve probably finished book one which means you’re awesome and I like you 😀 If you have not yet read it you may be excused to go and do it now. Also, this review will probably contain a few spoilers for book one so unless you’re one of those weirdos who don’t mind spoilers, read at your own risk.

Review: The Wheel of Time is an epic fantasy series by Robert Jordan which basically sets the base for all future fantasy stories to come. Along with Tolkien, those two men are like ‘the founding fathers’ of fantasy genre and with a good reason.

The Eye of the World is the first book of fourteen (I know, I know, that’s a lot) and every one of those books can be used as a weapon and I don’t just mean that the language and writing style are solid. They are around 800+ pages long each (unless you’ve got the new edition where this book is separated in two). But that’s okay, we’re talking about major epic fantasy saga here. They are supposed to be long.

Review: I don’t know why but all book or series endings leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth. Maybe I hate endings, or maybe I don’t like how the author decided to end their story — either way, I am never happy to read the last page.

The Other Wind, the sixth book of the Earthsea cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin, and so far the last one confirmed, was not what I expected as a conclusion of the story. It started promising with a bit of mystery and new, diverse characters (something that has been missing for me in the previous books) and then when they all got together their personalities more or less disappeared and it was hard to tell them apart. I don’t say that juggling a big cast of characters is easy, oh no, but I’ve read many books where it is done marvelously. And here, well, it was OK.

Review: Tales From Earthsea is a collection of short stories from the world of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin that take place before, during and after the events in the original storyline. It consists of five short stories – The Finder, Darkrose and Diamond, The bones of the Earth, On the High March and Dragonfly.

Personally, I am not a big fan of short stories. I simply do not believe they are able to convey a full, meaningful plot and allow for natural character development. But when I like series I always get excited when I get extra bits to go with the story – that being a scene from another person’s POV, a satisfying spin-off of a particular storyline that had been neglected or forgotten in the main story or simple fairy-tales/ar

Review: It’s amazing how fast I am going through books these days. I’m not sure if it is this specific series that make it so easy or I am just in my element 😀

Tehanu, the fourth book of the Earthsea cycle by Ursula Le Guin, is the last book of the original series. As such I expected it all to tie neatly together with a bow on top. I do love stories which give us more answers than questions at the end. And in a way, Tehanu did feel like an ending — but also as a beginning. I’ll explain in a minute.

Review: As you can see, I am still going strong with the Ursula Le Guin‘s wave and I even think I’ll be able to finish all her works (that I have) in no time. I did notice, however, that the more I read the more I realize that just good prose is not enough. When I started with the first two books, A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, I thought that their plot would be connected in some way. It turns out that the only connection so far is the wizard Ged who features in each of them. In the third book, The Farthest Shore, the story follows the steps of Ged years after the events in book 2

Review: As I expected, I dipped my toes in the pool of fantasy and now there is no power on earth to get me out of the water 😀 I’ve missed the intricate world-building and the wizards and powerful darkness lurking in the shadows.

The Tombs of Atuan is the second book of Earthsea cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin and my favorite so far. It has the same melodic prose that was present in the first one, it has the taste of magic and secrets and it has new characters and a fresh story.

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“He said a bad word. Do you want to know what it was? It started with F. It’s not the one you’re thinking of, though. To the other one. The one that ends with P. do you want to know what it was? It was troop.” She frowned. “Wait that’s not a word.”